


5 Times Hank Had Dad Reflexes And 1 Time He Wasn’t Fast Enough:

by love_write_edit_sleep



Series: 5 + 1 DBH [5]
Category: Detroit: Become Human (Video Game)
Genre: A Scary Dog, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Character Death, Crying, Dad Reflexes, Family, Gen, Good Parent Hank Anderson, M/M, Mourning, Panic Attack Mention, Pirates
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-26
Updated: 2018-09-26
Packaged: 2019-07-18 01:05:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,939
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16107560
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/love_write_edit_sleep/pseuds/love_write_edit_sleep
Summary: Hank knows that super-fast reflexes come with being a Father, what with how troublesome his boys are. He often wonders how they’d survive without him.





	5 Times Hank Had Dad Reflexes And 1 Time He Wasn’t Fast Enough:

**Author's Note:**

> (A/N: Not canon to my 31 Fic series but set after they take place (Excluding the epilogue], if that makes sense?

 

**** **1] Falling Debris:**

“Open up, Detroit Police!”

“Connor, Kid, there’s no point yelling when no-ones in there.”

“I know, Lieutenant.” Connor smiled. “I just like doing it.”

“Whatever.” Hank rolled his eyes. “Am I kicking the door down or are you?”

“I would strongly advise  _ against  _ kicking the door. The building’s structure is unstable and could collapse.” 

“Fine then, I’ll do it.” Hank muttered, kicking the door in and waltzing in.

“I would suggest you remain outside! I am more likely to survive if the building does collapse!” Connor cried, following after, his LED red. 

“There’s blue blood on the floor there.” Hank indicated. “Do… whatever you gotta do…”

“You mean this?” Connor smirked as he poked the blood and licked his fingers. Hank grimaced.

“Jesus, fuck…”

“The blood belongs to a WR600. It is not Ralph, before you worry.”

Hank opened his mouth to speak, but at that moment, one of the concrete ceiling beams slid free, catching on it’s own crack before collapsing completely, giving Hank just enough time to realize what was about to happen.

“Connor!” Hank ran forward, tackling Connor out the way as the beams fell, the Android crying out as his back hit a wall. The dust settled before Hank blinked his eyes open, looking Connor up and down for injuries. Connor looked terrified. “Connor, you alright…?”

“No.” Connor threw his arms around Hank suddenly, trembling as he clung to him. Hank clung back. “Thank you, Hank.”

“Shit… Just… Next time, I’ll listen to you, okay?”

“Okay.”

* * *

**2] Pirate:**

“Thank you again for inviting me to the office Halloween party, Mr Hank.” Matthew beamed, dressed in a pale pink knee-length skirt and white fluffy jumper, two fluffy bunny ears poking out his hair. Hank rolled his eyes.

“That’s the sixth time, just go mingle already, Kid.”

“Alright, Mr Hank.” Matthew smiled and walked away, though he didn’t try to talk to anyone. Instead, he walked to the window and looked outside.

Hank rolled his eyes and searched for his other kids. Connor was showing off his coin tricks, dressed as skeleton. Richard was engaging in a game of limbo, dressed as a Dracula. Gavin was laughing with Tina and Chris, dressed in his usual clothes but with two furry cat ears in his hair.

Hank turned back to Matthew, who was looking out the window with a soft smile on his face.

Then he noticed an officer dressed as a zombie pirate approaching Matthew from behind, as though trying to jump scare him.

“Hey, Hey!” Hank called as he rushed over, grabbing Matthew by the arm and pulling him back, hugging him. Matthew gasped in surprise but didn’t try to get away. “What the hell?!”

“What, it’s a prank! Chill!” The Officer complained.

“No! I won’t ‘calm down’! Would you do this to a little kid? Huh? My kid is scared to death of pirates, you coulda given him a panic attack!”

“If your android wasn’t such a special snowflake, he’d realize it was just a fucking joke!” The Officer spat. 

Hank threw his fist at the man, earning gasps all around, and smirked in satisfaction when his nose bled.

“There. I improved your outfit for ya.” Hank sneered as he guided Matthew away. “Come on, Kid, let’s go outside. This place is boring as hell anyway.”

* * *

**3] River:**

“Why are we here, Papa?” Richard asked, tilting his head slightly at the park Hank had taken him too, near the Ambassador Bridge. 

“Because you’re stressed, and I’m pissed, and we need to calm down. This is my ‘calm down place’, so it’s yours too, now.”

“What makes this place calming?”

“The river, mostly.” Hank shrugged, approaching the river and leaning against the railings. Richard did the same, standing on the bottom of the metal railings like a child as he looked down at the water. Hank rolled his eyes.

“What’re you looking for in there?” Hank asked.

“I do not know.” Richard muttered. “Perhaps… Myself.”

“Oh, shit, if you’re having an existential crisis, you better speak to someone who ain’t me because I’m still having mine, 20 years later.” Hank half-joked. Richard just leaned closer to the water.

Too close.

“Woah, shit!” Hank grabbed Richard’s jacket as the Android almost toppled over the railing and into the river. “What the fuck are you doing? You think now’s a good time to go swimming or something, huh?” He asked as he pulled Richard back onto solid ground. Richard blinked.

“I miscalculated my balance.”

“Did you, now?” Hank asked, hardly believing that out of all his kids, he had to stop  _ Richard  _ from falling into a river like a 3 year old. “Maybe what we need is sleep, yeah?”

“Perhaps.” Richard sighed. “Papa, I don’t like feeling lost.”

“I know, it’s gonna take a while to discover yourself completely… Just… take things one at a time for now, alright?” Hank smiled, placing a hand on Richard’s back as he guided him back home.

* * *

**4] Stray Dog:**

“Thanks, Dad…” Gavin muttered, his hands in his pockets as he walked through the park alongside Hank, the two returning home after a trip to the graveyard. “For finding Mom for me… Dad never told me where he buried her. Who’d have thought she was buried just a few feet away from Cole…”

“I’m just glad we found her.” Hank whispered. “You okay?”

“I don’t know.” Gavin sighed. “I don’t fucking know…”

“Okay, that’s okay. We can figure it out, okay?”

“Yeah, yeah, okay…”

“I bought some coffee ice-cream.” Hank smirked. Gavin blinked.

“That exists?”

“Sure does.” Hank chuckled. Gavin smirked, opening his mouth to speak when a growl cut him off. Gavin froze, suddenly making eye-contact with a large, rough looking Dobermann dog on the path in front of him, behind Hank. He backed away slightly, which caused the dog to charge. Gavin gasped in panic.

“Hey!” Hank stood between Gavin and the dog, whipping off his jacket in one smooth motion and swinging it at the dog, hitting its nose. The dog snarled and barked, but Hank shouted back, swinging his coat at it again. 

When the dog didn’t move, Hank suddenly lunged for it, earning a high pitched yelp as he scared it away. He quickly turned back to Gavin, pulling the shaking man into his arms. 

“Alright, Kid, you’re alright. It’s gone.”

“Fuck… D-did you see how angry it was?!” Gavin whispered. Hank rubbed his back.

“Hey, calm down, I got you…” He soothed, wrapping an arm around Gavin’s shoulders. “Come on, let’s get you home and get you some ice-cream.”

“O-okay…”

“It’s gonna be alright, Kid.” Hank assured him, guiding him home.

* * *

**5] Car:**

“And then Gavin just laughed!”

“I would laugh if I saw a cat climb up you.” Matthew giggled.

“Yes, well, it  _ nested  _ in hy hair.”

“Cat’s don’t nest, they dominate.” Hank smirked.

“Something cats and I have in common, it seems.”

“Richard!” Hank whacked him playfully. Matthew furled his brows.

“Richard, what do you dominate?”

“The bible.” Hank interrupted. Matthew seemed confused, but let it slide.

A skidding in the background tore their attention from each-other.

Hank saw the oncoming car before anyone else did, grabbing both kids by the back of their shirts and shoving them forward with all his might, narrowly escaping as the car smashed into the window of the store they’d been standing in front of. 

“Shit, are you hurt?!” Hank asked, looking both boys up and down. Richard shook his head while taking Matthew’s hand in his, knowing Matthew was likely frightened or in shock. 

“I-I am okay…” Matthew whispered. “Mr Hank, I do not like the unpredictability of death…”

“No-one does, Son…” Hank whispered. “You sure you’re both okay…?”

“Yes.” Matthew nodded, gripping Richard’s hand tighter. 

“Yes, I’m okay.” Richard forced a smile, despite his shock.

“Alright, let’s see if we can help here, then we’ll head home…”

* * *

**1] Bullet:**

_ “One of your children returned home. You have ten minutes, or I shoot. - An Old Friend” _

That was all the warning Hank got. Hank dropped his shopping in an instant and ran out to his car, dialing Fowler.

_ “What the fuck, Hank?” _

“Someone’s got one of my kids!” Hank cried. “I’m driving home, I need back-up, and for someone to call the boys, tell them to stay the fuck away from the house!”

_ “Hank-” _

Hank hung up before Fowler could argue. 

The drive felt like forever, and he found himself hoping the guy was lying. All the kids were out. Matthew was with Jerry, Gavin was with Elijah, Richard was at the DPD, and Connor was with Markus. None of them had any reason to go home.

10 minutes felt like forever when Hank pulled into his drive, barely parking the car before running out and throwing the front door open. 

“Dad!”

“Connor!” Hank barely had time to breathe when a gunshot split the silence. Connor’s body fell limp against his chair, thirium dripping from a bullet wound in his forehead. Hank froze.

“10 minutes, 5 seconds. Shame. You almost made it.” A masked man stepped forward. “This is what you deserve, you fucking asshole.” The man spat before waltzing out the house, leaving Hank frozen to the spot, staring at Connor’s lifeless body.

“Connor…” Hank whispered, stumbling as he tried to get closer to him. He eventually settled on crawling. It seemed the only thing he could manage… He gasped as he pulled Connor from his chair and into his arms. The android was completely limp…

Like Cole had been…

“Connor…” Hank’s voice cracked, the old man gently bringing a hand to brush Connor’s hair from his forehead. The kid was still smiling, the hope and relief of Hank’s arrival plastered on his face permanently, just to remind Hank  _ he was too late _ .

“Dad, what- Oh, fuck…” Gavin. “Fuck, no, Connor!” Gavin knelt beside Hank, shaking the android with all his might. “Fuck! W-We can take him to Elijah, he can fix him!”

“Unlikely…” Came a sorrowful voice from behind. Richard signaled off the back-up outside. “The… The bullet was… designed to corrupt his memories… Even if Elijah… If we used his previously backed up memories from CyberLife, he wouldn’t remember anything of the past 3 years… H-he'd be a machine again...”

“Fuck…” Gavin whimpered, his eyes welling with tears. “Fuck!”

“Mr Hank…?” 

_ Oh, fuck… _

“Matthew…” Gavin whispered, moving to hug Matthew. Matthew dodged him.

“Wh-why is Connor asleep?” Matthew asked, his LED red and trembling voice alerting everyone that he knew what had happened. He knew Connor wasn’t asleep, he was just hoping, pretending… Wishing.

“I-I didn’t get to him in time…” Hank whispered. “I couldn’t… save him…”

“Why is he asleep?” Matthew repeated, sounding more like a broken record as his eyes burned and hands trembled. “Wh-why is he asleep?”

“Matthew…” Richard stood forward, only for Matthew to step back.

“It is not bedtime.” Matthew choked. “Wh-why is h-he asleep…?” 

“Shh…” Gavin whispered, throwing his arms around the android’s shoulders as the tears fell from both of them.

“He should not be asleep, Gavin…” Matthew whimpered. Gavin nodded.

“I know…”

“H-he needs to wake up now…” Matthew choked, his knees failing him as he fell limp against Gavin, pulling the man down to the floor with him. 

Then Matthew started to sob.

Gavin cradled Matthew to his chest, the two crying as Richard stood mournfully behind them not even trying to hide his own tears. Hank clung to Connor, staring down at that goofy smile, that flap of hair that never went where anyone wanted it to go… 

He was going to let Connor’s face haunt him. Just like Cole’s had.


End file.
